India registered their first ever series and Test win in England at the Oval in 1971.

Hammered in the third and fourth Test, a demoralised Indian side looks forward to fight back and square the series at The Oval. Abhijit Banare looks at India’s record at the venue.

Though India have lost thrice to England at this venue, this is the same ground where they registered the historic victory in 1971 to clinch their maiden series win in England. There are various moments that stand out in the 11 encounters between the two teams. Bhagwat Chandrasekhar’s six-for in ’71, Anil Kumble’s only century, Rahul Dravid’s double century and others. On the other hand, England will have fond memories of the last encounter where Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell beat India in to submission. The match resulted in England setting a few individual records at this venue. Finally not to forget the agonising loss in 1979 where Suni Gavaskar led with a double ton and India had to settle for a draw falling nine runs short. Here are some key numbers. Read the Preview of India vs England 5th Test here

Win toss bat first? In all the 11 encounters between the two teams here, every single time the team winning the toss has elected to bat. It does give an idea that the pitch is conducive for the batsmen. Below is the record of the teams winning the toss.

Toss

Year

England, Bat

1936

India, Bat

1946

England, Bat

1952

India, Bat

1959

England, Bat

1971

England, Bat

1979

England, Bat

1982

India, Bat

1990

England, Bat

2002

India, Bat

2007

England, Bat

2011

Results: Below is the results of and the eventual series result in the 11 matches between India and England at The Oval.

No

Date

Result

Margin

Series

1

15-Aug-36

Lost

9 wickets

England 2-1

2

17-Aug-46

Draw

England 1-0

3

14-Aug-52

Draw

England 3-0

4

20-Aug-59

Lost

Inns and 27 runs

England 5-0

5

19-Aug-71

Won

4 wickets

India 1-0

6

30-Aug-79

Draw

England 1-0

7

8-Jul-82

Draw

England 1-0

8

23-Aug-90

Draw

England 1-0

9

15-Sep-02

Draw

Draw 1-1

10

2-Aug-07

Draw

India 1-0

11

18-Aug-11

Lost

Inns and 8 runs

England 4-0

Highest totals: India piled on runs in 2007 and 1990. The former is the match where Kumble scored his ton.

India

England

Runs

Year

Runs

Year

664

2007

594

1982

609/9 decl.

1990

591/6 decl.

2011

508

2002

515

2002

429/8

1979

477/4 decl.

1990

410

1982

369/6

1936

Lowest totals: Quite predictably, the 1959 match features twice as India went down by an innings.

India

England

Runs

Year

Runs

Year

98

1952

101

1971

140

1959

194

1959

Centurions for the two teams at The Oval: Perhaps Amit Mishra would’ve fancied making to this list as he fell 16 runs short batting at No 5. Sachin Tendulkar got closer in the same 2011 match where he was dismissed by Tim Bresnan for 91. Kumble scored his only ton at this venue. Interestingly, he was the only Indian to score a ton in the entire 2007 series.

India

England

Batsman

R

Year

Batsman

R

Year

Sunil Gavaskar

221

1979

Ian Bell

235

2011

Rahul Dravid

217

2002

Wally Hammond

217

1936

Ravi Shastri

187

1990

Ian Botham

208

1982

Rahul Dravid

146*

2011

Michael Vaughan

195

2002

Vijay Mercant

128

1946

Kevin Pietersen

175

2011

Anil Kumble

110*

2007

David Gower

157*

1990

Kapil Dev

110

1990

Stan Worthington

128

1936

Geoffrey Boycott

125

1979

David Sheppard

119

1952

Allan Lamb

107

1982

Kevin Pietersen

101

2007

Five-for at The Oval: Gubby Allen has the best bowling figures with a seven-wicket haul in 1936. For India, Harbhajan Singh picked a five-wicket haul in the draw in 2002 but Chandrasekhar’s six for 138 will remain the most memorable bowling performance. It is the best performance by an Indian spinner in England.

India

Figures

Year

England

Figures

Year

Mohammad Nissar

5/120

1936

Jim Sims

5/73

1936

Surendranath

5/75

1959

Gubby Allen

7/80

1936

Bhagwat Chandrasekhar

6/138

1971

Alec Bedser

5/41

1952

Harbhajan Singh

5/115

2002

Fred Trueman

5/48

1952

Ray Illingworth

5/70

1971

Graeme Swann

6/106

2011

Partnerships: England too rule the records in terms of partnerships between the two teams at The Oval. Once again in 2011, Pietersen and Bell put on a mammoth 350-run stand, the first 300+ stand between the two teams at The Oval.

(Abhijit Banareis a reporter at CricketCountry. He is an avid quizzer and loves to analyse and dig out interesting facts which allows him to learn something new every day. Apart from cricket he also likes to keep a sharp eye on Indian politics, and can be followed on Twitter and blog)

First Published on August 15, 2014 7:27 AM ISTLast updated on August 16, 2014 3:31 AM IST